Editing Parma, Ohio (section)

==History==

===Greenbriar (1806–1826)===
In 1806, the area that would eventually become Parma and [[Parma Heights, Ohio|Parma Heights]] was originally surveyed by [[Abraham Tappen|Abraham Tappan]], a surveyor for the [[Connecticut Land Company]], and was known as Township 6 - Range 13. This designation gave the town its first identity in the [[Connecticut Western Reserve|Western Reserve]]. Soon after, Township 6 - Range 13 was commonly referred to as "Greenbriar", supposedly for the rambling bush that grew there. Benajah Fay, his wife Ruth Wilcox Fay, and their ten children, arrivals from [[Lewis County, New York|Lewis County]], [[New York (state)|New York]], were the first settlers in 1816. It was then that Greenbriar, under a newly organized government seat under [[Brooklyn Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio|Brooklyn Township]], began attending to its own governmental needs.<ref name="Kubasek 1976 57">{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=57}}</ref>

===Parma Township (1826–1924)===
Self-government started to gain in popularity by the time the new Greenbriar settlement contained twenty householders. However, prior to the establishment of the new township, the name Greenbriar was replaced by the name Parma. This was largely due to Dr. David Long who had recently returned from [[Italy]] and "impressed with the grandeur and beauty...was reminded of [[Parma]], Italy and...persuaded the early townspeople that the territory deserved a better name than Greenbriar."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=58}}</ref>

Thus, on March 7, 1826, a resolution was passed ordering the construction of the new township. It stated,

{{blockquote|On the petition of sundry inhabitants for a new township to be organized and erected comprising No. 6 in the 13th Range. Ordered that said Township No. 6 in the 13th Range be set off and erected into a new Township by the name of Parma, to be bounded by the original lines of said Township.<ref name="Kubasek 1976 57"/>}}

[[File:Phillip Henninger House.jpg|thumb|Phillip Henninger House, built in 1842, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.]]

On the same day, a public notice was issued to qualified electors by the County Commissioners. They met at the [[Samuel Freeman House]] on April 3, 1826, to elect township officers according to the law. It was then that the first eleven officers were elected to lead the new government.<ref name="Kubasek 1976 57"/>

During this time, Parma Township remained largely agricultural. The first schoolhouse was a log structure built on the hill at the northern corner of what is now Parma Heights Cemetery.  A memorial plate on a stone marks the spot. In 1827, the township was divided into road districts. The [[Ohio State Route 176|Broadview Road]] of today was then known as Town Line Road as well as Independence Road. Ridge Road was known then as Center Road as it cut through the center of town. York Road was then known as York Street as arrivals from the state of New York settled there. Pearl Road then had many names which included Medina Wooster Pike, Wooster Pike, the Cleveland Columbus Road, and the Brighton and Parma Plank Road.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=60}}</ref>

[[File:Lyman Stearns Farm.jpg|right|thumb|Lyman Stearns Farm house, built 1855]]

A stone house, built in 1849 and known as the Henninger House, was occupied by several generations of Henningers and is still standing today. The house rests on one of the higher points in Cuyahoga County, which provided visibility for the entire northeastern part of Parma Township. This was also the same site where the Erie Indians, centuries before, stood to read and send fire signals as well as pray to their spirits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=64}}</ref>

By 1850, the US census listed Parma Township's population at 1,329.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=70}}</ref> However, the rising population of the township had slowed over the decades. The Civil War affected Parma much as it did other towns and villages in the nation. Three out of four homes sent a father, sons, or sometimes both, to fight in the war. By 1910, the population of the township had increased to 1,631.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=74}}</ref>

In 1911, [[Parma Heights, Ohio|Parma Heights]], due to the temperance mood of the day, separated itself from the Parma Township after by a vote of 42 to 32 and was incorporated as a village comprising 4.13 square miles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=93}}</ref>

: "A main reason for establishing the village of Parma Heights was to get a town marshal...There is one saloon in the territory...some pretty rough crowds Sundays have disturbed the quiet of the neighborhood...wanted it closed on Sundays. To do this they wished a town marshal. They couldn't have a town marshal without becoming a village, so they became one."<ref>{{cite news|title=Black Eye Wins as Vote Getter|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive?p_theme=ahnpdoc&p_action=doc&p_product=EANX&p_nbid=T5FU60KTMTM4Njc4MDMyNS4zNzM1OTg6MToxMzoyMDUuMjI3LjkwLjI2&f_docref=image/v2:122AFBBA107AC9E4@EANX-125DD8E494D00D3D@2419232-125AE1D100DD4ADA@7-138DBC91D9DA6A16@Black%20Eye%20Wins%20As%20Vote%20Getter%20Beating%20by%20Rowdies%20Carries%20Election%20and%20Carves%20Out%20New&p_docref=image/v2:122AFBBA107AC9E4@EANX-125DD8E494D00D3D@2419232-125AE1D100DD4ADA@7-138DBC91D9DA6A16@Black%20Eye%20Wins%20As%20Vote%20Getter%20Beating%20by%20Rowdies%20Carries%20Election%20and%20Carves%20Out%20New&p_docnum=-1|access-date=December 11, 2013|newspaper=Plain Dealer|date=July 14, 1911}}</ref>

===The Village of Parma (1924–1930)===
By 1920, the US census showed Parma Township had a population of just 2,345, but the following decade proved to be a time of significant growth and development for Parma. It was in the 1920s that Parma Township transformed from a farming community into a village. On December 15, 1924, Parma was incorporated as a village.

The largest and fastest growing development of that time was H. A. Stahl's Ridgewood Gardens development, which started in 1919, continued through the 1920s, and into the 1930s.<ref>{{cite news|title=From Green Fields to City Streets|newspaper=Cleveland Plain Dealer|date=September 2, 1926}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Real Estate Has Made Many Rich in City|newspaper=Cleveland Plain Dealer|date=April 13, 1919}}</ref> A resident of [[Shaker Heights]], Ohio's first [[Garden city movement|Garden City]], H. A. Stahl developed Ridgewood as an ambitious "model village" project patterned along the lines of and rivaling the earlier Shaker Heights project with "churches, schools, motion picture theater, community house, and other features forming a part of all well-developed residence communities".<ref>{{cite news|title=Thousand Acres In Latest Plot|newspaper=Cleveland Plain Dealer|date=April 30, 1921}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ridgewood - The New Home Community|newspaper=Cleveland Plain Dealer|date=July 4, 1920}}</ref> Ridgewood was designed and marketed as a [[Garden city movement|Garden City]] on 1,000 acres of land to accommodate about 40,000 residents "325 feet above Lake Erie, in the healthiest section of the South Side, free from the smoke of industries, or the congestion and noises of sections nearer the Public Square."<ref>{{cite news|title=Ridgewood - The New Home Community|newspaper=Cleveland Plain Dealer|date=July 11, 1920}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Horley|first=Robert|title=The Best Kept Secrets of Parma, "The Garden City"|year=1998|publisher=Robert Horley|isbn=0-9661721-0-8}}</ref>

===The City of Parma (1931–present)===
On January 1, 1931, Parma became a city with a population of 13,899. Whereas the incorporation of the village of Parma was met with much optimism, the newly established city of Parma faced the uncertainty of the Great Depression which had almost entirely stopped its growth.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=137}}</ref> Money was scarce, tax income was limited, and some began to talk of annexation of both the city and school district to Cleveland. Both annexation issues, however, were soundly defeated as Parma voters overwhelmingly voted against them and silenced proponents of annexation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=142}}</ref> Not long after this, Parma was once again solvent due in large part to the newly created [[Gallagher Act]], a 1936 Ohio law that aided cities threatened with bankruptcy<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 11, 2018|title=Kuth, Byron D.|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/k/kuth-byron-d|access-date=September 21, 2020|website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History |publisher=Case Western Reserve University|language=en}}</ref> and the determination of Parma's Auditor, Sam Nowlin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=146}}</ref> By 1941, a building boom appeared to be underway in Parma just as the United States was about to enter [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasek|first=Ernest|title=The History of Parma|year=1976|publisher=Ernest R Kubasek and Bernard Survoy|page=153}}</ref>

After [[World War II]], Parma once again began to experience tremendous growth as young families began moving from Cleveland into the suburbs. Between 1950 and 1960, Parma's population soared from 28,897 to 82,845. By 1956, Parma was unchallenged as the fastest growing city in the United States.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid%2Fiw.newsbank.com%3AEANX&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=1276A08771D9F94B&svc_dat=HistArchive%3Aahnpdoc&req_dat=0FDEC62F6DF22455 | date=January 4, 1956 | title=Archived copy | access-date=October 10, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110080330/http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004 | archive-date=November 10, 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The population peaked in 1970 at 100,216.<ref name="Census Of Population And Housing">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census Of Population And Housing|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=September 13, 2013}}</ref>

In 2016, Parma's population had declined to 81,601, though it remains one of the Cleveland area's top three destinations young adults (aged 22 to 34) are increasingly choosing as a place to live, along with Lakewood and downtown Cleveland<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/01/clevelands_urban_scene_gets_a.html|title=Cleveland's urban scene gets a boost from young adults moving in   |date=January 21, 2013 |first1=Robert L. |last1=Smith |newspaper= The Plain Dealer|location=Cleveland, Ohio|via=cleveland.com |access-date=September 5, 2016}}</ref> and in 2016 was recognized by Businessweek as one of the best places to raise kids in Ohio.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/businessweek|title=Businessweek - Bloomberg|website=[[Bloomberg News]]|access-date=September 5, 2016}}</ref>